Suspect! James Nana Womba
James Nana Womba, a lead suspect in the gruesome murder of Prof. Emmanuel Yaw Benneh, a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, has ‘confessed’ to the police that he, together with others, killed the law professor over GH¢450 and two mobile phones.
According to him, the motive behind the attack was to rob the professor but since he resisted, they used an iron rod to hit him several times after which they tied and gagged him until he died.
The lead suspect, who is a cleaner in the professor’s mansion at Adjiringanor at East Legon in Accra, said they then robbed him of the amount, his two mobile phones and a central processing unit.
The Director General of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, COP Ken Yeboah, at a news briefing in Accra yesterday, said four persons were initially arrested to assist in investigations.
He said after a series of interrogation, the police ‘narrowed’ their investigation on Womba, the 29-year-old cleaner of the late professor.
“Based on forensic evidence gathered from the crime scene, James Nana Womba was subjected to further interrogation and he broke down and confessed that he masterminded the murder of the professor,” the CID boss said.
He continued that initially Womba mentioned the names of some accomplices but yesterday morning, the suspect, once again, made another confession that he committed the crime with someone else.
Narrating how the crime was committed to the media, COP Yeboah said Womba confessed to the interrogators that he ‘duplicated’ the key to the room of the law professor and that was what they used in gaining access to his bedroom that night while he was asleep.
He said the motive of the suspects was to rob the law professor but since he was uncooperative, they used the iron rod to hit him after which they tied and gagged him until he died.
He said the police were following up on the leads given by Womba to get the said accomplice arrested.
Womba was arrested on September 13, 2020 after the body of the Law Don was found in a pool of blood in his house on September 12, 2020.
The suspect later confessed to the offence during investigations and even mentioned the name of one Opambuor Agya Badu Nkansah, a resident of Ashaiman, and two others (currently at large) as his accomplices.
However, suspects — Isaac Botchwey, 41, houseboy; Christian Pobee, 32, cleaner; and Adams Mensah Mansur, 52, a gardener (all workers in the mansion) who were arrested together with Womba were later discharged by a court after the prosecution had pushed that their investigations did not appear to link the three to the gruesome murder.
Prof. Benneh was found dead in his house on September 12, 2020 and preliminary police report indicated that he had been killed about two or more days before the body was discovered.
The police found the victim lying in a pool of blood with his hands and legs tied together on a corridor leading to his bedroom.
Police reports showed that the deceased had marks of assault on his body with a rag stuck in his mouth.
The body of the deceased was in a state of decomposition when it was found and has been deposited at the Police Hospital for preservation and autopsy.
Nana Womba has been remanded in police custody until October 14, 2020.
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey